Steve Hepburn

The Highlanders slumped to their seventh straight loss to start the season after them team went down 30-19 to the Brumbies in Dunedin tonight.

Highland coach Jamie Joseph says there is no magic formula to getting his side out of its losing run - the team just has to keep working hard and sticking to its game plan.

He admits winning another World Cup is a goal but Brumbies coach Jake White is concentrating on the here and now.

Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph admits he is in a place he is not familiar with, and says he takes ''full responsibility'' for his team.

Jess Todd can wrestle with the best of them.

Microchipped mouthguards are the latest tool in picking up concussions but it appears to be a never-ending battle to get on top of the issue.

North Otago will start its hunt for a new coach this week and hopes to have someone appointed by the end of next month.

He is hard to miss. A Grizzly Adams lookalike, with that shaggy hair and runaway beard, Liam Coltman is taking to Super 15 rugby like a duck to water.

The nightmare continues for the Highlanders as the side lost 29-18 to the Blues in Auckland tonight.

The pain, nightmare, depression - call it whatever - continues for the Highlanders, as the side slipped to its sixth straight defeat in Auckland last night.

It was not supposed to be like this. The Highlanders were fancied as championship contenders, but they have a dismal record of six losses from six games. Rugby writer Steve Hepburn examines the reasons.

This could be either a wake-up call to go on to greater things, or the beginning of a great fall.

The search has started for some midfield replacements to beef up the dwindling Highlanders stocks but assistant coach Scott McLeod says the cupboard is not overflowing.

Same scenario, but Hurricanes lock Jason Eaton is hoping for a different result.

It is early in the season. The lawns are brown, the sun still shines, the tan is still being worked on.

The Otago Rugby Football Union is back in the black - recording an operating profit of more than $200,000 - but has warned its financial position remains fragile.

Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph says spirits are still high in the side and he hopes to have some heavy artillery back this Friday, to take on the Reds.

Otago's past captain and a player in the side's engine room are marching off to the Saints.

Coach Jamie Joseph says the Highlanders need to stand up and fight, and believes they have landed a quality player in No 8 Mose Tuiali'i.